One Gorilla: A Counting Book
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Page Grabbers stage.
Why it fits Page Grabbers (for young toddlers who treat books as things to do)
Gorgeously painted primates to count from one to ten. Counting is just naming numbers, and this makes every number a face. The final page - 'all of us are family' - lands beautifully.
What makes it special
Browne paints primates the way portraitists paint royalty: every macaque and mandrill an individual with an inner life. The counting is almost incidental to the faces, which hold eye contact from the page. Its closing turn — 'all primates, all one family' — lands empathy at an age when it takes root deepest.
About Anthony Browne
Anthony Browne is a former UK Children's Laureate and Kate Greenaway winner famous for surreal, meticulous gorillas and the 'shape game' — his lifelong practice of turning random shapes into pictures. Few illustrators are taken as seriously by art critics.
Browne worked three years as a medical illustrator painting surgical procedures — training he credits for both his precision and his taste for the slightly unsettling.
Also by this author: Gorilla · Voices in the Park · Willy the Wimp
More from “Point and Name”
This book is part of The Best Books for Toddlers: 30 Teacher Picks (Page Grabbers) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.